


Red, Tangled Thread

by Lamia of the Dark (VisceraNight)



Series: Red, Tangled Thread [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family Drama, POV First Person, POV Voldemort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 17:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9559673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisceraNight/pseuds/Lamia%20of%20the%20Dark
Summary: What should have been a simple question leads to unexpected revelations.





	1. Prologue: Roses

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my older works, written in 2008. 
> 
> I've been debating for a while how exactly to post this here. When I originally wrote it, it was posted to FFN as a series of oneshots... and I finally decided to post the main part of the story as a multichapter fic, and other bits will be added as parts of a series.
> 
> Yes, the prologue is the same as [Roses](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2763992) which I reposted here a while ago, and have chosen to leave posted separately as it was originally meant as a standalone drabble which should not have ever had sequels.

~ Red, Tangled Thread ~

I am not the type of man to take by force that which is already offered freely to me. Perhaps her husband would prefer to believe that I am, but I am sure he must realize that she comes to me of her own free will.

I press my lips to her throat and whisper her name between kisses.

She responds, "Master..."

Suddenly it feels like a badly-constructed fantasy. This is one of the few situations in which I would actually prefer not to be addressed as "Master" or "my Lord". I have told her before that in the bedroom she is to address me as "darling" but that instruction appears to have slipped her mind in the heat of the moment.

On impulse I say, "Call me by my name."

"Lord Voldemort," she whispers reverently.

"No, call me by _my name_ ," I hiss, perhaps more venomously than I intended.

Her body goes rigid with fear. She doesn't like this game anymore. "V-voldemort," she chokes out, her voice barely audible. She knows her answer is wrong and she is terrified of what I will do to her.

I suppose there is nothing to be done about it. We will have to conclude our tryst for the night, without having done much of anything. As I stated before, I am not the type to take something by force when it is freely offered to me. And if I were to take her now, it would cause her to fear these interactions in the future.

I place one last teasing kiss on her neck and release her.

"Once you've figured out the correct answer, you may return and we will continue," I tell her.

She murmurs a hasty "thank you" (probably meaning to thank me for not punishing her), and exits the room. Once she is gone, I sigh heavily and sit down on the bed.

It seems ridiculous, this sudden desire to have her call me "Tom". However, it is obviously important to me, somewhere in the back of my mind. I've always hated the filthy common Muggle name that I inherited from my father. But I can't help thinking that if I were to hear it in her voice, soft and low, as a whispered sigh against my skin, as an impassioned cry, I would somehow not mind so much being called by such a name.

Perhaps it is true what they say about roses...

~oOo~


	2. Glass Houses

~ Red, Tangled Thread ~

It has only been a few days and already she has returned to me with the correct answer but, for some odd reason, she isn't jumping at the chance to claim her prize. Her gaze is locked on me, but her eyes are unfocused. She is distracted and upset.

I reach out and lightly stroke her cheek. She jumps, startled by the sudden touch.

"You were miles away," I say softly. "What is bothering you?"

"I-" She looks up at me with a pained expression. I think about telling her that she may hold her silence on the matter if it upsets her so much to talk of it. But just as I am thinking this, her expression hardens and she speaks. Her voice is tight with emotion. "I just found out that Rodolphus has been lying to me and cheating on me."

That is the last thing I would have expected to hear, but the information in and of itself does not actually surprise me.

"Glass houses, Bella..."

" _I NEVER LIED TO HIM ABOUT IT_ ," she explodes. " _HE KNEW, I_ _ **TOLD**_ _HIM!_ "

_Yes, and then he selectively chose what and what not to believe_ , I think sarcastically to myself.

She takes a moment to compose herself and continues in a much calmer tone, "What he's done is different. It's... it..." Her voice falters and she seems to struggle for words with which to explain. She reaches out to me tentatively. "Here, let me show you."

Physical contact isn't absolutely necessary, but I've found that it does improve clarity. I know she is also seeking comfort, but I do not know how much of it I can actually provide.

I take her into my arms. She clutches at the front of my robes and buries her face against my shoulder. I shift position so that I have one hand at the small of her back and the other cupping the back of her neck.

I can sense her opening her mind to me and I plunge into her recent memories.

_"Don't you_ _**dare** _ _!" Narcissa's voice is shrieking. "You're going to get yourself_ _**killed** _ _!"_

_The answering voice is too muffled for me to make out the words. I don't recognize the second voice, but Bella's mind has identified it as belonging to Rodolphus._

_(It takes me a moment to realize that Bella overheard this through a wall and that I am, in fact, not viewing this scene as a third party but rather experiencing it from Bella's point of view.)_

_Narcissa is shouting again. "You can't just walk up to the Dark Lord and ask him to please quit screwing your wife!"_

_Again, I can hear that a reply is made, but I can't make out any words._

_(My view suddenly shifts to a positon where I can actually see the two of them and I receive the sudden knowledge that Bella, once she'd realized the conversation concerned her, had sneaked around to spy on them through a half-open door.)_

_"Don't do anything stupid like trying to protect her. She can take care of herself and she knows what she's doing." Narcissa's voice has lost the sense of panic it held earlier and she is speaking softly now. "I don't want you to get hurt. I don't know what I would do without you." The words surprise me. If her husband has been cheating on her with_ _**her own sister** _ _, then it's no wonder that Bella is so upset over it._

_An echo of thought tells me that Bella was surprised at these words, as well as confused. She was thinking that maybe her sister had meant to say that she didn't know what_ _**Bella** _ _would do without him. That thought is shattered as quickly as it forms._

_Narcissa lays her hands on Rodolphus's chest and leans against him._

_"You are Draco's father, after all. I couldn't bear to lose you."_

_Another shock. I never would have guessed that Lucius Malfoy was not truly Draco's father. For that matter, I doubt there are many peaople who would. At this point Bella's mood shifts from confusion to anger. (I assume she knows something that I do not, but I don't exit the memory to search for it.)_

_Rodolphus wraps his arms around Narcissa and says, "You'd still have Lucius."_

_Narcissa makes a derisive sound. "I barely have Lucius now."_

_Rodolphus sighs heavily. "You know your sister thinks I love her. I don't want to do anything to endanger that illusion."_

_"That doesn't mean you have to go and do something stupid to demonstrate your 'love'. You don't even really care whether she's doing it or not."_

_"Of course I care whether she's doing it or not."_

_"Right. Because if she is, it means you get a break from her trying to get_ _**you** _ _into bed with her."_

And suddenly I find myself back in my own bedroom with Bella in my arms.

"I didn't hang around after that." Her words are muffled against my shoulder. She has thrown up shields around her mind and I can only assume that she did something embarrassing to vent her rage afterward. That, or she cried and doesn't want me to know about it.

It takes me a moment to realize that she is crying _now_. She lifts her head and slides her arms around my neck. I shift my hold to accommodate the new position.

"He was supposed to marry my sister," she whispers.

"Narcissa?" I ask in surprise.

"No, my _other_ sister," she answers, "the traitor, the tramp who ran off with a Mudblood."

Oh, her. I always forget that there was a third sister. (I suppose there still _is_. She is alive, as far as I know.)

Bella presses her body more closely against mine and, in turn, I wrap my arms more firmly around her.

"I was engaged to his brother," she says. This information is new to me. "After my sister ran off, Rodolphus fought his brother for me. He fought his brother, _dueled him_ , and won. He told me that even though he was engaged to my sister, he'd fallen in love with me. He told me that _and I believed him_." Her voice is anguished as she tells me that she believed she was loved. "My parents didn't care which brother I chose. Either way, it would be a respectable pureblood marriage." Her shields have slipped and I get the sense that she now thinks she would have been better off with her original fiance, with whom she would have knowingly entered into a loveless marriage. "Narcissa always belonged to Lucius. They were married earlier than they planned... and Draco was born seven months after the wedding. Lucius has always believed Draco was his. Arrogant git that he is, he must have thought he was too handsome for Narcissa's attention to stray..." She clings tightly to me for a moment, choking back sobs. "Why did I believe him when he said he loved me, _why_...? What _was_ I to him all this time? Second best? His last chance for a respectable pureblood marriage? A way to stay close to my sister without arousing suspicion?" She presses her face against my neck and weeps.

I want to comfort her but I do not know how.

I start to speak, but she cries out, "No!" Her outburst startles me into silence. "Don't lie to to me," she pleads. "Don't tell me it will be alright, because it _won't_. Don't tell me that this is for the best, because it _isn't_. Please don't lie to me. _You_ , at least, have never lied to me before."

"I've lied to you before," I say.

She laughs bitterly. "Not this kind of lie."

I do not know what kind of lie she means nor what kinds of lies she finds acceptable, seeing as how she does not seem to mind that I _do_ lie to her. Her guard is completely down and I reach into her mind for the answer.

That he loved her. This is the lie that she finds unforgivable. She was never in love with him but the love he supposedly held for her allowed him to manipulate her, to a certain extent, because she felt the need to at least try to reciprocate even though she did not truly have feelings for him. In a way, the guilt she felt over not being able to return his feelings made it easier for him manipulate her. She is glad she never fell in love with him because this would hurt much more if she had. She might have been tempted to fall for him sometime during the course of their marriage if only she hadn't always been-

She throws her shields up with such force that I am immediately and totally shut out of her mind. But not fast enough to stop me from catching the tail end of that thought. It is, by far, the most shocking revelation of the day.

_Dear God, she is in love with me_.

And from the sudden urge I have to cause massive amounts of bodily harm to Rodolphus Lestrange, I'm assuming that my feelings towards Bella are a bit more complicated than I previously thought.

Glass houses, indeed.

~oOo~


	3. As Blood Calls

~ Red, Tangled Thread ~

I wake to the sensation of scales sliding against my face. Annoyed, I push Nagini off the bed.

_Bad snake_ , I hiss in Parseltongue.

I feel Bella shifting beside me and realize that I've woken her.

"Good morning," I say softly.

"Good morning, my lord," she mumbles, sounding like she is still half-asleep. Then, realizing where she is, her eyes snap open and she stares at me. It is morning and we are both still dressed in the clothes we wore the day before. As this realization sinks in, I watch her expression slowly sadden.

I have never seen someone look so broken.

She has been betrayed by the people closest to her. I am the only person that she still trusts. I am all that she has left to cling to. If I were to hurt her now, she would be completely destroyed. It is this thought that scares me the most. I have never been good at being gentle.

In a hushed whisper she says, "Yesterday was real."

"It... does not have to be," I say slowly, fingering my wand.

"Even if you erase my memory, it doesn't change the truth," she replies bitterly. "Could you stop me from finding out again? And from finding out that I'd found out before and couldn't face the truth then?"

I know she means it as a rhetorical question, but I answer anyway. "I could not do that without killing you. Or them." I pause. "Do you _want_ me to kill him?"

" _No_."

I am surprised by the vehemence of her answer. Surely she can't possibly be harboring any affectionate feelings for her husband after what he's done to her...

"He deserves to suffer." Her voice is a whisper but her tone is pure poison.

"Yes, he does," I say and without thinking about what I am doing, I lean down and place a chaste kiss on her forehead. _This is going to be a long day, so first things first_.

I stand and walk to the closet.

While I am trying to decide what to wear, Bella comes to stand beside me.

"I don't have any clean clothes," she says. I get the distinct impression that she doesn't want to go back to her own room and risk running into Rodolphus.

"What about this?" I say, pulling out a white dress that was hanging among my clothes.

She looks at it and makes a face. "Was that even mine?"

"Perhaps not," I concede. "But it is here, and you need something to wear." And, without giving her a chance to argue further, I wave my wand and the white dress changes places with what she is wearing. I quickly change my own clothes as well.

When I turn to look at her, Bella is staring at herself in the mirror with an unpleasant expression on her face. I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist.

"That dress looks good on you," I say, unable to keep a hint of exasperation out of my voice. "What do you think is wrong with it?"

Bella leans back against my chest and I close my arms more tightly around her, enjoying the physical (but nonsexual) pleasure of the sensation.

"It's white," she says.

"You look just as beautiful in any color," I say, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head, trying to placate her. "Everything you wear doesn't have to be black." Although I must admit, I've hardly seen her wear anything that _isn't_ black. "When is the last time you wore a white dress?"

As soon as the question is out of my mouth, I realize it is the wrong thing to say. I know the answer before she says it.

"At my wedding."

Unfortunately, that seems to be the answer to several other questions she doesn't really want to think about. Predominantly among them is _When was the last time your husband kissed you on the mouth?_

She turns around in my arms and buries her face against my shoulder. She isn't crying, though, and for that I am grateful. I place my hand between her shoulder blades and rub her back in what I hope is a comforting manner.

This is what I get for trying to be nice without ever having done it before. I know how to seduce women. I have plenty of experience in _that_ area. But I have never attempted to maintain a relationship over any period of time and I very obviously lack the necessary skills for it.

Inspiration strikes me, and I trail my fingers lightly down her spine, casting a simple spell.

Bella feels the ripple of magic and lifts her head to look at me questioningly.

"Turn around," I say softly.

She turns and catches sight of herself in the mirror. I've changed the color of her dress to palest silver. It suits her much better than white. Or perhaps it is the small smile she now favors me with that colors my judgment.

I slide my arms around her waist once more, and she leans into the embrace.

"Why are you being so sweet to me?" she asks softly.

"Because you need me to," I answer in surprise.

She seems more surprised by this answer than I was by her question.

"Bella," I say her name softly in just the way that she likes, and hug her close. "I will help you through this."

It's as obvious from the look on her face as it would be if I were actually reading her thoughts: she is starting to realize that I have decided to take care of her and she is thinking that perhaps I am not completely heartless after all, that maybe I hold some small affection for her...

"What are we going to do now?" she asks.

"I am going to go and speak with Lucius," I answer, disentangling myself from her. "You will stay here."

I am almost to the door when she calls me back.

"Wait!"

I look back at her over my shoulder.

"Please let me go with you," she pleads.

I want to say no, but I can see tears gathering in her eyes. The conversation I am about to have with her brother-in-law is not something she should hear in her current emotional state, but now I worry that leaving her alone may be the worse option.

I sigh. "You may come."

Outside Lucius's room, she takes hold of my hand. I feel a tremor of fear; she doesn't want to run into Narcissa here. Bella isn't ready to face her sister yet. After only a brief moment, her grip slackens. I close my fingers around hers before she can let go. She is worried about what Lucius will think. I am not. Right now, keeping her from breaking down further is more important than whatever her brother-in-law thinks is going on between us.

I raise my free hand and knock once on the door, hard.

"Lucius, I need to speak with you."

The door opens. Bella tugs her hand free of mine before her brother-in-law has a chance to notice.

"Here, my lord?" Lucius inquires politely, unable to keep the confusion out of his voice.

"Here will be fine," I answer.

He moves away from the door to allow me to enter. He shoots a questioning look at Bella, obviously wondering why I've brought her with me, but he does not ask.

Once we are inside, he closes the door behind us.

I sit in the room's only chair, a quite comfortable armchair. Bella comes to stand beside me. Lucius leans against the bedpost.

"To what honor do I owe this visit?" Lucius asks.

I'd wanted to play with him a little before getting into it, but since Bella is with me I decide that it would be best just to get this over with.

"Did you know," I say, "that you are not Draco's father?"

"Of course," he answers in surprise. This was not the reaction I expected. "I'm sorry, my lord. I would have told you about it sooner, had I known that you would find the information to be of any importance."

It isn't of any importance to me, really. I am not quite sure how to proceed with the conversation from here.

"Did you know that Draco's real father is Rodolphus Lestrange?" Bella asks quietly.

"I had no idea..." Lucius's shock at this revelation seems almost as great as Bella's was when she found out. He takes a good look at Bella this time. He noticed something odd in her voice when she spoke, and now he sees that she is pale and trembling. "How long have you known?" he asks, not unkindly.

"I found out yesterday." She sounds like she is about to cry.

He moves forward as if to embrace her, as if that were the natural thing to do in this situation. I feel a flash of anger. Lucius aborts the movement as I take Bella into my own arms.

It takes me a moment to realize that the anger I felt just now was borne of jealousy.

Bella curls up in my lap and settles against me in what is becoming a very familiar position. She clings tightly to me and presses her face against my shoulder, fighting to keep from crying. I hold her close, still unsure how to comfort her.

Lucius watches us curiously.

Turning my attention back to him, I say, "How did you know Draco was not yours if you had no idea who the father _was_?"

"Because," Lucius answers, sounding faintly uncomfortable. "I've never slept with Narcissa."

"Never?" I ask in surprise. Not once in all the time that they've been married?

"No... you see, Narcissa and I are actually brother and sister. Half-siblings to be precise. Her mother had an affair with my father, and Narcissa is the result of that."

This explains a lot of things, in Bella's mind at least. Out of the three sisters, Narcissa had always been her father's favorite but now Bella realizes that her father was overcompensating when trying to pretend that Narcissa was his own child.

Lucius continues to explain, "Our marriage arrangement was my mother's way of taking revenge." He stops and looks sharply at Bella. "Wait, weren't _you_ already married when Draco was conceived?"

Bella nods and cringes, pressing herself closer to me. She whimpers softly and begins to cry.

I'd completely overlooked what Lucius has just pointed out. Of course, that fact only makes Rodolphus's betrayal seem even more vile. Only two years after the duel with his brother and the dramatic declaration of his undying love, only a year after their wedding, he got her sister pregnant. No one would have ever suspected him of being Draco's father, because everyone thought he was madly in love with Bella. And since he doesn't know his secret has been found out, he will still be trying to pretend that he loves her...

"Enough, Lucius," I say. "Leave us. And do not speak of this conversation to anyone, especially those ...involved..."

A plan is beginning to form in my mind. I may not be able to undo the damage that Rodolphus's betrayal has caused, but I will do all that I can to destroy him. Not physically but mentally, emotionally. I will cause him kinds of pain he did not even know existed.

I will.

... as soon as Bella stops crying.

~oOo~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I had him commenting on her facial expressions when she had her back to him, but please remember that they were standing in front of a mirror during that scene...
> 
> I didn't manage to work the title reference into the fic the way I did in Roses and Glass Houses. This saddens me.


	4. Snakes and Stones

~ Red, Tangled Thread ~

We are alone in Malfoy's room. Bella leans against me, nuzzles my neck, and whispers my name. My real name.

I know immediately what it is that she wants. Her use of my real name makes that obvious. I realize that I don't want her to call me by that name after all, and I tell her so.

"What name do you want me to use, then?" she asks softly, looking up at me.

"You may call me Voldemort." I've granted her such permission few enough times in the past that she is surprised by it now.

She holds my gaze as she breathes my name. Her voice is hushed, reverant...

And I feel a sudden intense longing. It is a feeling I know well, but I have never before felt it towards a _person_.

I cup her face in my hands and bring my mouth to hers, lightly brushing her lips with my own. I make sure to keep my movements slow and tender. I have never kissed her this way before. I have never kissed _anyone_ this way before. I feel her arms slide around my neck as she reciprocates with soft sweet kisses of her own.

There is none of the usual passionate fire behind these kisses, so why is it that I feel such incredible pleasure...?

Although I am tempted to let it continue like this for as long as humanly possible, after a few long moments I break the kiss. She sighs and snuggles against me. I lift her into my arms and carry her to the bed where, slowly, softly, I take her.

Despite my intention not to, I fall asleep after we are finished. When I wake up, Bella has already left the bed. Her clothes are still lying in a heap on the floor and she is standing, naked, in front of the open closet.

"What are you doing?" I ask as I quickly pull my robes on.

"Borrowing my sister's clothes," she answers in a _what-does-it-look-like-I'm-doing_ tone of voice.

I do not point out that the dress she was wearing before is still clean. I have learned that women have very different ideas than men about when clothing is designated 'dirty'.

She does not go for the plain black robes, as I would have expected her to, but rather chooses a dress that is recognizably Narcissa's. It is at this point that I think to ask her what she is planning. An evil grin lights her face as she explains...

When I walk into the dining room (alone), Lucius and Rodolphus are sitting at the table talking to each other in a friendly manner. I suppose Lucius must be a better actor than I gave him credit for if he can just sit there making small talk with his brother-in-law after the things he's learned about him.

Once they notice that I've entered the room, their conversation ceases and Rodolphus asks me where his wife is.

"Why would I know where she is?" I say with a small frown, as if I'm confused as to the reason he would even consult me on the matter.

"Wasn't she with you?" he asks, sounding a bit confused himself.

"It was yesterday evening when she was last in my company," I lie, my tone clearly conveying that I consider him a total idiot. "I know it might take a simpleton like _you_ eighteen hours to report a single piece of information..." I let the insult hang.

I can tell what he is thinking without even peeking into his mind. If she was lying about having been with me, then who the hell _was_ she sleeping with?

Before he has a chance to voice this thought, though, Narcissa bursts into the room with a bundle of silver fabric in her arms, looking absolutely furious. She stalks over to Lucius and demands angrily, "What is this?"

"Isn't that the dress Bellatrix was wearing this morning?" Lucius says. (It is. I recognized it the moment she came into the room.)

"How could you? With my _sister_ of all people, when you won't even sleep with _me_. All this time I thought you were _gay_!" Narcissa rants.

Lucius chooses this moment to reveal that he and Narcissa are actually half-siblings (due to an affair), which is the reason he could never bring himself to do anything sexual with her and why he was secretly glad when another man got her pregnant, since most of the wizarding world wasn't in on that little secret. At this point he turns to Rodolphus and says, "By the way, I heard recently that you're the father..."

While the three of them argue amongst themselves, Bella slips quietly into the room. I know something is wrong because she ignores her family and comes straight to me. (Besides that, she is wearing her own clothes again. She must have gone to her room and changed before she came here.)

She lays her hand on my arm and hisses in my ear, "I need to talk to you."

I know she means in private. We exit the dining room (unnoticed by the still-arguing trio), and go back to my room.

She sits on the edge of the bed. I remain standing. She seems hesitant to speak so I take the initiative.

"What happened?" And by that I mean why did she let her little revenge plan go to shit.

"I got sick," she says quietly, looking down at the floor. "I threw up all over Narcissa's dress..." A hint of a smile plays around the corners of her mouth as she says this.

"You were so nervous about your plan that you threw up?" I ask in surprise. That just isn't like her at all.

"I don't think that's it," she whispers, her gaze still rooted firmly on the floor.

"Bella." I kneel in front of her her, forcing her to look at me. "Are you trying to tell me what I think you're trying to tell me?"

She bites her lip and nods.

Well. That certainly explains some things about her recent behavior.

"And, what are the chances that Rodolphus is the father?"

She hesitates. "Um... fifty-fifty?"

"Really?" I say in surprise. "You... with him? That much?"

"You're forgetting... I didn't know that he wasn't in love with me - or that he was getting some on the side." Her eyes are shining with unshed tears. "I hope it's yours," she says softly. I can hear the tenderness and worry in her voice. Of course she doesn't want the baby to be her husband's. Suddenly I feel very possessive.

"It's mine, whether I'm actually the father or not," I say fiercely.

I am not prepared for her reaction. She throws her arms around me and buries her face against my neck. I am caught off-balance and we fall backward onto the floor.

"I love you," she whispers.

When I hear her say it, I have a strong desire to repeat the same words back to her and in that moment I realize that the feelings I have for her _are_ love. I never recognized it as such before. I thought I didn't even know what love was. But I can never tell her how I feel, because she will not believe me if I do. She doesn't want lies. So I tell her the only thing I _can_ tell her.

"I know you do, Bella."

~end~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a reference to "sticks and stones" and also referring back to the stones from the "glass houses" saying. "sticks" changed to "snakes" because Voldemort.


End file.
